THANK YOU

to Phyllis Labanowski for all of her hard work and dedication in co-creating our ARTeens program. We wish Phyllis the best as she moves on from ARTeens to pursue new opportunities and challenges. Phyllis’ work, including her grant writing skills, will now help sustain the program, since ARTeens was recently awarded a Mass Cultural Council YouthReach grant!

Stepping in to co-direct the program starting this fall, is Laura Iveson. Laura is a long time Art Garden board member, director of The Hilltown Draw-Around, and set designer with Hilltown Youth Theater where she works with children and teens to create large artworks.

Check out this video about ARTeens created by graduating ARTeen Micah Goldstein last spring. Micah credits ARTeens with helping her realize that being an artist is possible, and ART is what she wants to do with her life. She is now studying Animation in Montreal.

Our 2018-2019 Pay-What-You-Can ARTeens after school program is now accepting APPLICATIONS! In our 7-week Fall 2018 session, there are two ARTeens’ groups that meet on Tuesdays OR Thursdays starting the week of October 23rd and ending the week of December 13th.

Applications are due on October 10, 2018. Downloadable application below.

There are over 60 works of art, poetry and prose by 50 artists and writers
in our current community exhibit about the animals we love:

Painting,

collage,

assemblage,

tapestry,

needle-felted

sculpture,

drawing,

photography,

drypoint

and

monoprint,

poetry,

prose,

and

a

beautiful garland

of dog tags

and bells,

are just some

of the variety

of media

on exhibit.

Poignant tributes to the animals we love
attest to the deep relationships we have
with the ‘other-than-human’ among us.

And lest we forget,

our

youngest

participant,

Theo,

age 6 ¾,

has a watercolor

entitled,

Humans

Are

Animals

Too.

You Don’t Have To Take A Dog

for Zoey, in memoriam

You don’t have to take a dog when you walk at night,
but it helps. Neighbors driving by don’t have to wonder
what tragic event has occurred to you—
whether you’re trying to escape from your past
or your future; your husband, your kids, or just
the unwashed macaroni pot hardening on the counter.
People who don’t know you don’t have to waste time
wondering who you are, though they might
slow a bit, on account of your dog.

The dog is oblivious. That’s part of her charm.
She trots on ahead of you, sniffing for rabbits
you’ll never let her have. She knows
you’d spoil her chances, lose your cool
and shriek, “No!” right at the critical moment.
She loves you anyway. She’s a dog.

You, on the other hand, are inescapably human.
Even if you could bring yourself to charge into
the underbrush baying at the top of your lungs, seeking,
maybe even finding, something vast and elemental,
some scrap of insight trapped and trembling
down a badger hole, there’d still be laundry
to do when you got home.

The moon’s not full tonight but it’s smiling anyway—
a lax, sideways smile—indulging you, indulging your dog.
Cornstalks nudge one another as you pass.
All the decisions you’ve made lately,
all the tears you’ve cried or not cried,
and still this flat plain, this little piece of the world,
looks exactly the same.

The dog could have told you that.
She’s waiting for you now, having left behind
the field’s enticements to come onto the pavement
to find you. She sits, calm, watchful, wondering
how it is you can walk such a straight line
and still be so far back there.

Trish Crapo

The poem above by Trish Crapo is one of many in this exhibit. Poetry will be part of the closing reception (that includes other performances) on:

April 14, 6pm – 8pm

Performances at 7pm

View the exhibit at The Art Garden

on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays:

1pm – 5pm

Perhaps Super Honey Bunny will be here to greet you!

This exhibit

is supported in part

by the following

Local Cultural Councils:

Ashfield,

Buckland,

Colrain,

Charlemont/Hawley,

Conway,

Heath,

Plainfield,

Rowe,

& Shelburne!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

And thank you James Smith & Laura Iveson for taking exhibit photos for this post!

The next few weeks are busy ones at The Art Garden!

We hope you can join us
for some [or all] of the following creative opportunities:

Laura Iveson and I will be facilitating this introductory drypoint workshop for adults [teens are welcome too!] using The Art Garden’s etching press and non-toxic Akua ink.

We’ll provide materials, prompts and instruction for exploring the beautiful mark-making that is characteristic of drypoint. No prior experience necessary. Registration is required! Please call or email The Art Garden to register: csartgarden@gmail.com or 413.625.2782

To see some of the amazing drypoint prints created by the artist, Louise Bourgeois, click here.

A week of intergenerational guest artist workshops:

February 19 – 23, 2018

The Art Garden has invited several guest artists to our studio for this full week, February Vacation program; providing special workshops in the mornings followed by mixed media studio projects in the afternoons.

All ages are welcome, including adults and teens!

The full week program meets from 9am – 3pm, February 19 – 23, 2018.

Morning workshops run from 9am – 11am.

Register for one or more workshops, full days or the whole week!Click here for details.

Workshop Schedule:

On MONDAY morning, artist and set-designer Laura Iveson will guide students in the making of Shadow Puppets. She will provide a Shadow Puppet screen for us to use for creating shadow-puppet plays. Impromptu performances will happen throughout the day depending on participant schedules.

TUESDAY:Dream Catchers with Edite Cunhā

Dream Catchers (in Lakota Tradition) represent the web of life. They hang in homes to sift dreams and visions, letting the negative pass through, and holding the positive and helpful for the good of the people. In this workshop we will use vintage linens; colorful textiles, ribbons and yarns; fun notions and baubles; and natural materials, to make unique dream catchers as gifts for ourselves or others.

On WEDNESDAY, teaching artisan Leonore Alaniz invites participants to journey to the magic expanse of the sky and outer space. Inspired by music and visualizations, we will explore printing with recycled materials, gel plates and colorful non-toxic inks. Everyone will create a batch of unique images on paper and cloth: beautiful gifts that tell the story of imaginary space travel.

On THURSDAY, artist Mia Radysh will teach flat Needle Felting on wool felt. Cut out a crown, bracelet, play watch, or ornament shape to decorate, or make a patch for your favorite sweater. If you can draw or paint it, you can felt it!

On FRIDAY, Jen Luck Hale will demonstrate her process for making intricate,cut paper art using multi-colored and patterned origami paper and tiny scissors. Jen will show students the basics for creating their own designs and patterns.

All workshops are tailored to accommodate a mixed age group.The Art Garden prides itself on fostering a culture of inclusion, where people of all ages and abilities are treated with equal respect. It is amazing what we learn from each other!

AND LASTLY:

Super Honey Bunny invites you

to celebrate the Year of the Dog

by participating in our next community exhibit

about the animals we love:

Drypoint with photoshop additions by Jane Beatrice Wegscheider

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Photo by Laura Iveson

Winter HooPla

Saturday & Sunday, February 3 & 4

6:30 – 8:30pm

at The Art Garden

and the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum Railyard

Our Winter HooPla features a series of ephemeral, outdoor art installations using rail yard buildings, old rail and commuter train cars, and other site-specific features of the railyard landscape.

In 2017, shadows cast from Reed Arahood’s carboard birds flew between large-scale shadow boxes set inside Freight house doorways. The shadow screens were created by Samantha Crawford, Jumi Shots and Laura Iveson. Photo by Reed Arahood.

Under the co-direction of artists Laura Iveson and Jane Beatrice Wegscheider, guest artists and community volunteers co-create a magical environment focusing on winter myths, whimsical and ephemeral winter-related ideas and contemporary issues. Installations are created using found, re-purposed, and natural materials, paper and light.

In 2017, Laura and volunteers transformed the historic T-car into an aquarium (using our giant Green River Festival cardboard fish.) What will it become this year?

Our Winter HooPla is free and open to all!

Hot cocoa will be served outside and light refreshments will be inside where visitors can also see Against All Odds: a community exhibit about Resistance & Resilience. There are 37 works in this exhibit made by 27 artists.

The HooPla is supported by a generous grant from The Art Angels. Thank you!

It would also not be possible without the hard work (often out in the cold) of many volunteers, community members and local artists. Thank you! Thank you!

Katie Sachs is a former western Mass resident active in the local music scene, who left four years ago to continue her music career in Austin, TX. She returns for a special performance of original songs spanning three albums worth of material, as well as some covers and a Tom Petty tribute. Come for an intimate evening of soulful Jazz-Folk, and to support The Art Garden.